In 1984 Atari were working on perhaps the first ever attempt at a commercial video game head-controller: The Mindlink. Left and Right movements could be controlled (to a degree) using left and right eye-brow muscles, with three games being linked…
Author: Barrie Ellis (page 14)
One-button FPS Design Challenge
“The Challenge: Design a one-button first-person shooter game. Assignment Details: This design challenge comes from Brandon Sheffield of Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra.com, and his assignment details are extremely minimal. Design a one-button FPS game. Describethe game ideathe game mechanicthe…
Brain Waves
Couple of Brain Wave Controller links: Kotaku and Yahoo News – “Paralysed Man Walks In Second Life” and AbleGamers preview of OCZ’s Neural Impulse Actuator .
The Case for Gaming Accessibility
A Case for Gaming Accessibility is made in Eitan Glinert’s work – “The Human Controller: Usability and Accessibility in Video Game Interfaces“.“Despite the advances in user interfaces and the new gaming genres, not all people can play all games –…
eDimensional Access Controller – On Sale
“First announced back in October of last year, the Access Game Controller designed by technical wizard Ben Heckendorn for disabled gamers is finally ready for sale via eDimensional’s website. The device, listed for use with the PlayStation 2, PS3, and…
“Player vs. Everything: Gaming with a disability”
Great interview with AbleGamers over at MMORPG site Massively. Well worth a peek.
ALERT!
Accessible Learning through Entertainment and Recreation Tools (ALERT) Project Released The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Game Accessibility Special Interest Group (GA-SIG) and 7-128 Software are pleased to announce the release of the Accessible Learning through Entertainment and Recreation Tools…
Too Difficult
Some excellent recent articles regarding game difficulty levels: Pushing Buttons: The Difficulty BandwagonThe Escapist: Hard TimesGamasutra: The Designer’s Notebook: Difficulty Modes and Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment Via: Mersey Remakes
“Five Easy Ways To Fix Complicated Controllers”
GamePro.com have recently published their guide to solving the utterly disabling issue of overly-complicated game controllers. It’s a fairly well thought out piece on the whole – but surprisingly misses out the need for reconfigurable controls. What about left-handed players?…
Game Accessibility Train
A few quick links to recent Game Accessibility conferences gone by – with plenty to delve deeper into:HCT of University of Sussex, UK – May 2008 Game Accessibility Workshop report. My quick personal write up. Games for Health 2008 –…